Geography

Profile

Julia joined the Geography Department as a lecturer in Environmental Policy, Planning and Management in March 2008 following the completion of her PhD with the Institute for Development Policy and Management (IDPM) at the University of Manchester. This followed a BSc in Geography (1999) and a Master of Research in Environment and Development (2001) at the University of Lancaster, with an intervening period of three years’ work for a London based consultancy company.

Whilst at Manchester Julia undertook research for the Centre on Regulation and Competition, a  DfID funded research centre at IDPM, into how water services are made affordable to the poor and the significance of subsidies in South Africa. Prior to that, she was commissioned to look into the effects of South Africa’s 1998 National Water Act upon water resource management in the Inkomati Water Management Area.

Julia’s research interests, which lie at the interface between environment and development, centre on the governance of natural resources in developing countries, notably models of devolved management and stakeholder participation in the planning and management of natural resources.  She is interested in exploring the relationship between global principles of best environmental practice, their translation into national policies and implementation on the ground and with what outcomes.  Her PhD thesis, “Participatory Processes and Outcomes of South Africa’s Water Reforms”, evaluated the processes leading to the establishment of new representative water management institutions in South Africa, and looked for evidence of outcomes: participatory governance and sustainable water resource management.  Additional fieldwork in South Africa is planned to explore further the processes and outcomes of the democratisation of natural resource management.

Teaching

Current teaching contributions include: Global Environmental Management, Foundations in Human Geography and Cities of the World at Level 1; Sustainable Environmental Management at Level 2 and Environment and Society at Level 3. 

Key Publications

All publications